British security officials — the anti-terrorism type, not network pros — are giving citizens an opportunity to receive e-mail alerts of any changes in the official threat assessment.
Anticipating the snickering from some quarters, Michael Evans, defense editor of The London Times, offers this supportive argument:
It may sound like a gimmick but any move to reassure or inform the public about the terrorist threats facing this country should be viewed in a positive light.
I suspect there will be an initial curiosity interest but the main beneficiaries of this new system will be business and industry. MI5 has been urging companies to draw up counter-terrorist security plans to prepare for terrorist attacks, and e-mails will provide another reminder.
What about here in the U.S.?
My knee-jerk reaction is that the threat is not as omnipresent here as in European cities, so perhaps such alerts would amount to overkill.
But I live and work in leafy suburbia. Perhaps New Yorkers and Washingtonians will see this differently.
